The jury is still out on the merits and demerits of the FTA Sri Lanka signed with Singapore. However, as it happens in most cases, the "out precious island under attack by foreigners" mentality can be seen by many comments, complaints and attacks made against the said FTA.
The writer is not an expert in international trading or economics, an engineer or a researcher on global trade. He is an academic and a concerned citizen who wants Sri Lanka to progress towards becoming a high middle income earning country and hopes that this country would at least reach the status Malaysia or Thailand has reached at this point in time by at least 2030.
In the humble opinion of the writer, the biggest stumbling blocks for any type of progress in the country when it comes to international relations, international trade, FDI or tourism comes in two forms.
1] The warped mentality that any trade pact, any agreement and investment deal we do as a country should be 100% beneficial to us and should not have any meaningful benefit to the other party.
This mentality can be seen in every area;
I/ If Chinese come to do a project in Sri Lanka, it should be 100% in our favour and the Chinese cannot get anything out of it. They cannot/should not even get a lease for the land they put up the project. They cannot take profits out of the country. etc etc etc.
II/ If Indians want to invest, they should invest purely for the benefit of the Sri Lankans and Indians dare not expect any commercial or political benefit out of that deal. We don't want any rag-tag Indians working here.
III/ Same with any FTA including the Singapore FTA. How dare those chink eyed Singaporeans expect any benefit from this agreement? We should export everything we can duty free to them but we must charge high duty for anything they send here.
2] The medical doctors, engineers, Buddhist monks, undergrad-student unionists, bearded trade unionists and gangsta-politicians are experts in economics, international trade, international politics and investments. They know everything there is to know. Nothing can happen in this country without their blessing. In-fact, this country exists because of them and for them.
There are many examples where Buddhist monks, young-guns of IUSF and medical doctors have dispensed their expertise on critical matters such as national education policies, FTA/ECTA/CEPA with India and Chinese investments and sometimes successfully reversed beneficial policy decisions.
The latest group of "economics experts" who have joined they fray are the usually cool headed engineers of IESL. In a letter (dated April 18, 2018) sent to the Prime Minister and the Minister of International Trade under the signature of the President of the IESL, they outline 6 areas of concern. The IESL letter to the PM can be accessed here.
As stated in the beginning, the writer is not an expert in international trading or economics, an engineer or a researcher on global trade. As such I cannot and should not comment on many points of concern raised by the learned engineers of the IESL some of which may hold a lot of merit.
However, I would like to comment on points 4 and 5 of the said letter, which is shown below.
POINT NUMBER 4 raised by IESL could mean as they think, that due to the Sin-SL FTA, there would be literally hundreds of thousands of Singapore Citizens and PRs would rush to Sri Lanka and grab service sector jobs.....In Sri Lanka...
My question to IESL is... "Are you guys listening to yourself?"
Which sane Singapore Citizen or PR would leave one of the world's most developed city states and come to Sri Lanka, the land of over crowded Ashok Leylands and tuk-tuks looking for service sector jobs?
Unless they are paid a hefty premium on what they could earn in Singapore who would come here?
Is our service sector that developed so that we can employ Singaporeans and pay better than what they could earn over there? The unemployment rate in Singapore is 2% as at March 2018. How many jobless Singaporeans and PR are there to come to Sri Lanka for a third-world salary?
Of course there would be highly skilled, top level professional service sector jobs that could be filled by a few hundred Singaporeans but would hundreds of thousands come here and our young people would lose job opportunities?
Sorry to say this, but to the writer points 4 and 5 look like a cut and paste job from the "Oppose CEPA" project.
POINT NUMBER 5 is even more questionable.
It says and I quote; "millions of other nationals holding Singapore PR could be treated equally..:"
Take a look at the statistics published by www.strategygroup.gov.sg which quotes "Department of Statistics, Immigration & Checkpoints Authority" data.
According to Singapore Immigration, there were only "526,600" people holding Permanent Residency status in Singapore. NOT MILLIONS as claimed by the IESL.
A according to public domain documents from the Singapore Government, permanent residency status is granted considering various situations like "being married to a Singapore Citizen", someone holding a Work Permit for professionals and currently working and paying taxes in Singapore.
If someone is not working and paying taxes in Singapore OR not working for a Singapore owned company and posted overseas, a person's PR status will not be renewed. Income tax return proof have to be submitted on renewal of PR applications.
So, in the opinion of the writer, there are no millions of foreigners holding Singapore PR status to come and invade the barely middle-income Sri Lanka's service sector.
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